


Scared

by CapriciousVanity



Category: The Evil Within (Video Game)
Genre: Asexual Character, Asexual Relationship, Emotional Hurt, M/M, Unresolved Emotional Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-22
Updated: 2015-02-22
Packaged: 2018-03-14 13:30:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3412415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CapriciousVanity/pseuds/CapriciousVanity
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ruvik treats Leslie more kindly than his doctors, more kindly than those who say they'll protect him. Soon, Leslie begins to remind him of Laura, as he thinks of her fondly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Scared

“Scared…! Scared…! Scared… Scared… Scared!! Scared…”

Leslie repeated these words over and over as he shuffled his feet along the cold, dusty tile. He looked from one wall to another frantically, fingertips touching ever so slightly. He stopped, stumbling back somewhat as blood congealed into a figure before him.

“Aaahh!!” He screamed, arms flailing out as he fell back and tried to run, only to find that the hall behind him was a tile wall and medicine cabinet. He banged his hands against the glass until it broke, hissing and clenching them into fists as blood seeped from his new cuts. With a swift turn, he pressed his back against the cabinet. The cloaked man did not move, only leer at him curiously. His discolored, grey eyes darted down Leslie’s ragged appearance and dirty feet and hands. _Barefooted and under dressed... Didn't the good doctor at least get you shoes..?_ He wondered for a moment if the barbed wire and glass posed any issue.

“So you’re him… You’re Leslie.”

Ruvik had met him before, though he wondered if Leslie himself remembered, if he would recognize him or his voice, or the prodding done to his skull.

“You’re Leslie… You’re Leslie… You’re Leslie…” murmured the pale, young boy.

“You’re not as… Simple as people think you are. You’re powerful. You can manipulate this world. You have… a few pieces intact that most lose later in life. A kind of innocence found in fond memories.”

Ruvik reflected on his own emotionally distant parents. This boy was abandoned when he was young, leaving him emotionally stunted, though, he didn't seem to know about it, himself. They were equally damaged, hurt before and mistrusting of those around them. He wondered if this is what made Leslie compatible with his mind.

Ruvik took a single, careful step toward him, not minding that his bare foot crushed glass. This was his world. It wouldn't hurt if he decided it didn't. The others, however, wouldn't be so lucky. It intrigued him that Leslie had power here, however. He was careful, not wanting to frighten him too much, or at least to accidentally take a dose of whatever hidden abilities Leslie contained. Ruvik let out his hand, covered loosely in bandages, scarring and puss visible. Leslie’s head moved in sharp motions from Ruvik’s face to his arm, then hand.

“Don’t… Don’t… Don’t… Don’t hurt me…” His breathing was erratic. He was terrified, wary... Ruvik needed Leslie to trust him.

He tilted his head curiously, taking another step forward, though he was cautious. Any further and his hand would be able to touch Leslie.

“As much as I'd love to cut into your mind… I can’t. I won’t. You’re too important. Though, I would enjoy another dissection, seeing what's inside again. How could I have missed you all those years..?”

Leslie whimpered before bursting into a sprint. Ruvik’s dark smirk faded, realizing he had frightened the boy after all. He sighed silently, adjusting his cloak absently. His visage strobed as he apparated closer to Leslie. He played this game of cat and mouse throughout the multi-building, through hospital hallways and old, creaky rooms of the mansion. He came to an old guest room, feet against the chill of oaken floorboards. He knew where Leslie was hiding. He was underneath the bed, shivering and lip quivering. Though, he approached the bed, to show Leslie he was there, he turned to leave him be. The young man would emerge on his own sooner or later. He needed to lead Sebastian astray before he’d find and take away the pale young man.

~*~

“Fuck.”

Leslie shivered, hiding under the bed as he saw Sebastian. He held his breath, trying to hold back the urge to murmur. Some time had passed and he had lost his chance to ask for Sebastian’s help. 

“Are you still frightened?”

Leslie jumped, hitting his head on a spring beneath the bed. Bare feet, scarred and ashen, stood before him. Then a knee, a hand, then the scorched, hooded face of Ruvik peering at Leslie curiously, dangerously.

“Come out of there, Leslie,” Ruvik tried to coax. Leslie crawled from under the bed, his arm being taken by Ruvik to help him stand. Stepping on something sharp, he cried out in pain. He fell to his knee, but looked up to Ruvik, who flashed transparent for just a moment, right before his eyes as his thin frame loomed directly over him.

“I don’t need my new body to get itself hurt,” he said with nonchalance. He knelt to Leslie’s level and slowly took his ankle to run his finger along the cut at his foot. Barbed wire and rust…

Ruvik stood and lifted the boy from the ground by his arms again. He made himself seem small with the way he slouched and how close he kept his feet. Ruvik lifted his own hand and spread apart his fingers, palm out to face the hall. A blinding light flickered. Glass and wire vanished from the floor, and cabinets, wood, and wheelchairs picked themselves from the floor to clear a better path. It was still dark, however, and the dust and grime was still ever-present. Ruvik frowned to himself. He couldn’t find it in himself to clear it better… He was full of too much pain, horror, and bitterness to fix it completely.

“That’s the best I can do,” he said flatly, mostly to himself.

“The best I can do… I can do… I can do…”

“Absent repetition, rocking, appearing small in stature… You’re not sick. Not the way they think. You’re a survivor, aren’t you Leslie.” He held a tone of amusement as he spoke to the young man who continued to repeat his words.

“The one I’ve been looking for, right under my nose…”

Ruvik couldn’t take control of Leslie just yet… He needed to get closer to the source. He walked on, leaving Leslie behind. He glanced behind him, and in his peripheral vision, he saw Leslie pitter-patter behind him, looking from side to side every now and again, for his own safety he assumed. His dry lips cracked a smile.

“Come on, Leslie,” he encouraged. The pale boy scurried to catch up, leaning unexpectedly close to Ruvik’s side. Doctor Jimenez was the last person to get physically close to him, to shake his hand or to pat his shoulder encouragingly. In silent spite, his own hand clutched Leslie’s shoulder.

“Leslie!”

Ruvik looked ahead to see Sebastian aiming at him with his pistol. Could he really shoot from that far? He’d risk shooting Leslie. Ruvik smiled to himself, lowing his head as blood seeped from his skin and down his legs, across the floor, and solidifying in traps and barbs. Leslie stiffened before turning tail to run. Ruben sighed to himself as he glanced in Leslie’s general direction. He’ll deal with Sebastian later.

He teleported on after him, looking back and forth between the doors to see if Leslie had gone in any of them, leaving Sebastian to his own devices. He heard Leslie’s footsteps downstairs. With a coarse sigh, he descended, hoping to catch up with the young boy. He wouldn’t be able to leave the mansion so long as Ruvik disallowed it. Or at least he hoped. Leslie possessed an unnatural ability to manipulate Ruvik’s mental conjurings. A pulse shook Ruvik suddenly. He looked around to find its origin, hoping it would lead to Leslie. It happened again, warping the first floor. Another, then another, becoming quicker with each wave. Ruvik felt like he was walking through sand as he tried to drag himself toward the cellar door. That door wasn’t supposed to be here, not without his permission. Leslie must have made it himself, ripping it from Ruvik’s memories. He forced his darkened hand out to open it, though he was thrust back against the wall as a strong gust pushed him and the décor back. Leslie emerged, seemingly calm though darting his gaze about. Ruvik teleported before him, the statues and plants finding their proper places again.

Ruvik stood still before the pale boy, awaiting any action. Leslie looked to him briefly before looking away. Trouble with eye contact, Ruvik noted. His calloused hand reached to touch his cheekbone. After a paused moment, his numb fingertips brushed a few ends of Leslie’s white-blonde hair. He retracted his hand immediately when Leslie flinched in pain. He began to scratch at his temple. He was compatible with Ruvik… But not with anyone else connected to him.

“Leslie, stop that.”

Ruvik snatched the boy’s pale hand from his head. He was leaving a mark. He could see the pinpricks of blood vividly against his light hair.

“Hurts… Hurts… Hurts… Hurts…”

“It won’t be long, now.”

“Hurts! Hurts..! Hurts!!”

Leslie made fists and disjointedly pounded against Ruvik’s chest. He wasn’t physically strong and was easy to catch his wrists, though once he threw his whole body into the tantrum, Ruvik had a harder time keeping him restrained.

“Stop it, Leslie. You’re making everything worse! I'll leave you here, alone in the dark if you don't stop."

Leslie stopped, eyes wide and pink.

“Alone in the dark… Alone in the dark… Alone…! In the dark!! Momma… Papa..!”

“You really are a child..."

Ruvik, exasperated from essentially babysitting the former patient, pushed himself from his knees to stand. Leslie followed suit and clung to his arm. Ruvik had given up on separating himself from the young man. Something else came over him, instead. He brushed Leslie’s bangs apart to kiss his brow. It was something his sister had done to him once when he was upset. Leslie seemed to be calm and paid no mind to the action.

“I need to make sure no one finds us. Finds you. You are too important to lose now, Leslie.”

“Imporant… Important… ‘Leslie’ is… Important?”

“Yes. Very.”

“Oh…”

“Is that a problem?”

“People want to hurt me.”

“I won’t let them.”

Leslie’s bright eyes looked at Ruvik.

“I won’t let them,” he assured again. Leslie nodded.

“I need to go take care of things… They will find you. Kidman… Julie… She wants to kill you.”

Leslie gasped sharply, making a face of pure hurt as he remembered. Ruvik took a quiet mental note about the whistle made when Leslie spoke through his chipped and broken teeth.

“No… No..! No! No! No!”

Ruvik held his shoulders as he tried to struggle to get away, but he wasn’t trying to run. He was just having another fit. Ruvik didn’t force him to stay, but rather tried to quiet him by gliding his hands up and down Leslie’s arms. Eventually, his hands took hold of Leslie’s face. For a moment, Ruvik was surprised by how soft his skin was…

“Leslie, calm down. You’ll rip us both apart if you get out of hand.”

Leslie’s eyes seemed to tinge pink.

“Just… Just stay here. Got it?”

Leslie nodded mutely.

Ruvik needed to protect him, but it was beginning to bloom different reasons than for his escape and salvation.

~*~

Ruvik leaned against the wall, breathing heavy. He was splitting himself in too many pieces. He needs to get rid of some of these people… He’s beginning to lose himself. He needed to take Leslie to his core, to become a singular consciousness with him. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could take this. He closed his eyes for a short rest, slowing down time in his own mind until he felt his hood be pushed back. He opened his eyes to see Leslie knelt before him, a soft, pale hand touch the scared part of his face, fingers careful against the glass of his false skull, thumb running over his eyes. Then, gentle lips touched his brow, just as he had before.

“You really aren’t as stupid as the others want to think you are… You have trouble expressing yourself verbally. Mimicry is about the only way you can figure it out, isn’t it.” Leslie pulled back to look at Ruvik eye-to-eye. His eyebrows knitted.

“I… Want to help.”

Ruvik kept silent as Leslie found his words.

“She tried t-to…  _Kill_  ‘Leslie.’ I don’t want to die.”

Ruvik’s hands held Leslie’s neck as he pulled him closer, resting their foreheads together. Leslie averted his eyes, having a hard time looking back into Ruvik’s.

Ruvik felt the subtle turns of Leslie’s head as he leaned against him.

“If… If… If… If ‘you’ become ‘me’ then who will we both be..?”

“Most subjects act like wild animals forced to be together, hating each other viscerally. The few who have successfully merged share the thoughts and feelings of one another and eventually get used to thinking and feeling at the same time.”

“Will we… Will we… Are we ‘compatible?’”

“Yes.”

“I want to help…”

Leslie brushed his cheek against Ruvik’s cloak and shoulder. For a moment, the pseudo-scientist was unsure of what to do, but settled on letting his hand drift to the boy’s arm, moving to the back of his head. Laura used to do this for him when he was young… It was nearly the same age gap between them now, isn’t it? Except he was the older one now… Leslie… Laura… Leslie… Laura… Leslie… Laura… Ruvik held the boy quietly as the two names rang in his head like the chime of a grandfather clock. Laura was good to him, cared for him, loved him, and he loved her just as much. He could trust her with anything. Even his darkest secrets she would keep dear and hold his small hands as if they had never spilt a drop of blood. For a moment he wondered if Laura would have been just as compatible with his mind as Leslie. And, for another moment, he almost felt sorry.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I hope I characterized them well enough. This is sort of a warm-up for a hopefully better Leslie/Ruvik fic in the future.


End file.
